Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 album by Jeff Wayne. It is a retelling of H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds. The album was originally released in 1978, and has become as popular in its own right as the original novel. The CD version of the album was released in October 25, 1990. The musical tells the story of a reporter (known in the credits as the Narrator) of his account of the events of the Martian invasion, using sentences of the novel by H.G.Wells. It is by far the most accurate retelling of the original novel to date. To promote its release, an abridged version featuring "radio edits" was distributed to radio stations. However, because the songs weren't written with radio in mind, special intros and endings had to be added. This "air play" album turned out so well that CBS decided to release it commercially in 1981 as Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. In 1984 CRL Group PLC released the computer game Jeff Wayne's Video Game Version of The War of the Worlds for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer. In 1998, another computer game was released entitled Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds, created by Rage Software. Jeff Wayne produced musical arrangements for the game, which consist of 45 minutes of material remixed and re-scored in a newer electronica style with techno beats. The artwork for the game was based on the illustrations that accompanied the original album. Some of Burton's dialogue as the Journalist is also used in the opening scenes. The album has had two remix collections. One was a double-disc released in 2000 named The War of the Worlds: ULLAdubULLA The Remix Album. Following the success of the 2005 re-release of the original a follow-up, ULLAdubULLA II, was released on April 17, 2006. In late 2004, production had been commissioned for an animated CGI film version set for a 2007 release, although as of 2008, the film is still in its production stages. Test footage of some of the Martian machines has been released to the website War of the Worlds online.War of the Worlds Online On June 23, 2005 the original album was re-released in two forms. One was a more simple remastered 2-disc Hybrid Multichannel Super Audio CD set. The other is a 7-disc Collector's Edition featuring various remixes, outtakes, and the actors reading from the unabridged script; a seventh disc is a DVD showing the making of the album, produced by Phoenix Film & Television Productions. A live tour took place in the U.K. and Ireland in April 2006. It featured a performance of Richard Burton as the Journalist, which was a projected image of a picture of a young Burton with a super-imposed actor's mouth and jaw lip synched to the original recordings. Justin Hayward reprised his original role as The Sung Thoughts of the Journalist and Chris Thompson returned as The Voice Of Humanity. Also from the original recording were Chris Spedding playing lead guitar and Herbie Flowers playing bass guitar. Other guest artists who appeared were Alexis James as the Artilleryman, Russell Watson as Parson Nathaniel and Tara Blaise as Beth. Daniel Boys is understudy for all the roles, sung by man. A model fighting-machine featured on stage. Also presented was a short animated "prequel" to the story in the style of the upcoming feature-length film detailing the Martians' ecological destruction of their own world and their preparations to invade Earth, and including a short remix of "The Red Weed". The show was produced by Damian Collier and Jeff Wayne, who also conducted the 48-piece ULLAdubULLA Strings and 10-piece Black Smoke Band. A 2-disc DVD special edition of the 2006 Wembley Arena, London show was released November 6, 2006 by Universal. Disc 1 contains the live show and Disc 2 contains extras and a documentary of the making of the live show. It is titled Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds - Live on Stage. The live show toured Australia and New Zealand in 2007, with dates in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane & Auckland. The Australian tour featured Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll as Parson Nathaniel, actress Rachael Beck as Beth and Michael Falzon as the Artilleryman, alongside Justin Hayward and Chris Thompson from the original cast Showbiz.com.au. A further U.K. live tour took place in December 2007 with Justin Hayward, Chris Thompson, Alexis James, John Payne as Parson, and Sinéad Quinn as Beth. 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the original album release, and a number of events will be taking place, including a "30th Anniversary" UK tour, which starts on 2009-06-10 in Aberdeen. Jeff Wayne says that he and the show's producer, Damian Collier will be attempting to "make it the most exciting production yet." 30th Anniversary of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds, The War of the Worlds Official Website, June 9, 2008 On November 30th, 2018, the musical returned with Liam Neeson and a new cast to celebrate its 40th anniversary! It was performed from November 30 to December 17, 2018. As its name suggests, Jeff Wayne's Musical version of The War of the Worlds: The Next Generation was intented to point at a younger audience. The music and tunes are very similiar to the 1978 version and it has a more modern beat to it to the original. On 15 October 2018 it was announced on the Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds Official Twitter page and on the official website that after over a year in work, a brand new production of Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: THE MUSICAL DRAMA would be available on Audible.com on 29 November 2018. This is a brand new 5 hour Audible Original Production based upon Jeff’s Musical Version and HG Wells’ dark Victorian tale featuring new story and musical content. It will feature an all-star cast including Michael Sheen as The Narrator (named George here, as a referance to Herbert George Wells), Taron Egerton as The Artilleryman, Ade Edmondson as Ogilvy, Theo James as Parson Nathaniel, with Anna Maie Wayne as Carrie, The Journalist’s Wife. It was released on November 29th, 2018. Story Part 1: The Coming of the Martians In a prologue, the Journalist notes that in the late 19th century few people had even considered the possible existence of extraterrestrial life, and yet, planet Earth had in fact long been enviously observed by advanced beings. The Journalist's account begins with the sighting of several bursts of green gas which, for ten consecutive nights, erupt from the surface of Mars and appear to approach Earth. Ogilvy, an astronomer convinced that no life could exist on Mars, assures the Journalist there is no danger. Eventually something crashes onto Horsell Common, and in the resulting crater Ogilvy discovers a glowing cylinder, the top of which begins to unscrew. When this lid falls off, a Martian creature emerges. By now a crowd has gathered on the common, and when a group of inquisitive men approach the cylinder they are incinerated by the Heat-Ray—an advanced Martian weapon. The Journalist flees with the crowd. Later, hammering sounds are heard from the pit. A company of soldiers is deployed at the common, and that evening an injured and exhausted Artilleryman wanders into the Journalist's house and tells him his comrades have been killed by fighting machines—tripod vehicles built and controlled by Martians, each armed with its own Heat-Ray. They set off for London—the Journalist to ensure his lover Carrie is safe, the Artilleryman to report to headquarters—but are soon caught in crossfire between soldiers and Martians and separated. Three days later the Journalist arrives at Carrie's house but finds it empty. He resolves to escape London by boat and later catches sight of Carrie aboard a steamer, but the gangplank is raised before he can join her. Fighting machines then approach, threatening the steamer, but they are engaged by the Royal Navy battleship, Thunder Child and two are destroyed. The steamer escapes, but Thunder Child and her crew are melted by heat-rays, leaving England defenceless against the invasion. Part 2: The Earth Under the Martians The wandering Journalist discovers that red weed—the vegetation that gives Mars its color—has taken root on Earth and spread rapidly across the landscape. In a churchyard he encounters the Parson Nathaniel and his wife Beth. The trio take refuge in a nearby cottage that is soon surrounded by black smoke—a Martian chemical weapon. Nathaniel, driven mad by his experiences, blames himself for the invasion and believes the invaders are demons arising from human evil. As Beth attempts to restore his faith in humanity, a Martian cylinder crashes into the cottage and she is buried under the rubble. The newly arrived Martians construct a handling machine: a squat, spider-like vehicle used to capture and collect humans. After nine days hiding in the ruins, the Journalist and Nathaniel see the Martians 'eating'—harvesting human blood and injecting it into their own veins. Nathaniel resolves to confront the 'demons', believing that he has been chosen to destroy them with his prayers and holy cross. The Journalist knocks him unconscious to silence his ravings, but the Martians are already alerted. A mechanical claw explores the cottage and drags Nathaniel away. Eventually the Martians abandon their camp and the Journalist continues his journey to London. He again encounters the Artilleryman, who is planning a subterranean utopia that would allow humans to evade the Martians and ultimately strike back with reverse-engineered fighting machines. The Journalist, however, realising the Artilleryman's ambitions far exceed his abilities, soon leaves. Upon reaching London he finds it desolate and empty. Driven to suicide by intense despair and loneliness, he surrenders to a fighting machine, but realizes it is inert, the Martian inside dead. In his epilogue, the Journalist reports that the Martians were defeated by Earth's bacteria—to which they had no resistance—and that, as humanity recovered from the invasion, he was reunited with Carrie. But, he says, the question remains: is Earth now safe, or are the Martians learning from their failures and preparing a second invasion? In a second epilogue set in the near future, a NASA mission to Mars flounders when the control center loses contact with the craft. The controller sees a green flare erupt from Mars's surface. Suddenly the dead Fighting Machine in the control center suddenly reactivates by itself... See also * Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds Transcript. * Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds-The Immersive Experience. Track listing All dialogue written by Doreen and Jeff Wayne, based on H.G. Wells's original text. Music and lyrics by Jeff Wayne except where noted. The arrangement of the tracks differ depending on the format. They are as follows: LP Side A # "The Eve of the War" – 9:06 # "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" – 11:36 Side B # "The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine" – 10:36 # "Forever Autumn" – 7:43 (Wayne, Vigrass, Osborne) # "Thunder Child" – 6:10 (Wayne, Osborne) Side C # "The Red Weed (Part 1)" – 5:55 # "Parson Nathaniel" – 1:55 # "The Spirit of Man" – 9:46 (Wayne, Osborne) # "The Red Weed (Part 2)" – 6:51 Side D # "Brave New World" – 12:13 (Wayne, Osborne) # "Dead London" – 8:37 # "Epilogue (Part 1)" – 2:42 # "Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA)" – 2:02 Compact disc Disc one # "The Eve of the War" – 9:07 (Wayne) # "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" – 11:35 (Wayne) # "The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine" – 10:27 (Wayne) # "Forever Autumn" – 7:55 (Wayne, Vigrass, Osborne) # "Thunder Child" – 6:03 (Wayne, Osborne) Disc two # "The Red Weed (Part 1)" – 5:51 # "The Spirit of Man" – 11:45 (Wayne, Osborne) # "The Red Weed (Part 2)" – 6:19 # "Brave New World" – 12:36 (Wayne, Osborne) # "Dead London" – 8:36 # "Epilogue (Part 1)" – 2:42 # "Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA)" – 2:01 iTunes Disc 1 #The Eve of the War - 9:09 #Horsell Common and the Heat Ray - 11:35 #The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine - 10:36 #Forever Autumn - 7:41 #Thunder Child - 6:16 Disc 2 #The Red Weed (Part 1) - 5:55 #The Spirit of Man - 11:37 (tracks "Parson Nathaniel" and "The Spirit of Man" are combined) #The Red Weed (Part 2) - 5:24 #The Artilleryman Returns - 1:27 (on physical CD, this is a part of "The Red Weed (Part 2)") #Brave New World - 12:14 #Dead London - 8:35 #Epilogue (Part 1) - 2:30 #Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA) - 1:50 Images References External links Official site Category:Music Category:The War of the Worlds adaptations Category:Jeff Wayne